The mind sleeps, slacken
Like a fish net hung to dry;
Catching the naked wind.

While our life
Expectancy continues to grow
We continue to die younger
Each time we open our
Eyes to a new day.
While the river
Remains frozen in the mountain
The birds retain the branches
Nearer to the sun
Without so many leaves.
Who is it, the one who comes
In the night by the lake
To take away all the dreams;
To open our mouths to the stars
With such a sudden haste?

The emerging minutes
Wrapped themselves
Loosely around the
Branches of my mind
(Like banners in the wind)
And the naked trees
Poetically, whispered
In a spoken silence
Beneath the shadow
Of the mountain.
Dusk was heavier than the stars
Heavier than my sadness
Here in the ravine, waiting
For the snow.

I've always exerted
My heart carefully
Not to attract attention.
Like a waiting lion
Or the empty night.
In the forest
My heart beats against
Time. The distant shores.
I breathe in the vastness
Of a darkening forest.

The mountains in winter
Full of those darker shades
Covered in snow. The deeper
Ravines, the frozen river.
Very little movement.
Who is it that speaks
Skittishly, naked on the breeze
Of coming snow, stars?
The mountains in winter
An overwhelming moment
Of peace. Opening my eyes
Into this incredible existence
To a cold thatched sky and beyond.

Our lives are like
Those stones that
Escape out of
The hillside
And glitter in the sun.
Being heaved
From that hidden source
We arrive broken
And full of contradictions.
Exposed once again
To the forceful elements
Of love and fear.

For many years now, I have
Thought of the concept
Of a single thing
A fox in snow, a hillside
Full of stones. I was here
And then there and
Couldn’t understand why.
For many nights now
I have been as lonely as a mountain
Listening to the rain. Wondering
In my sleepless rifts
Where did the days go?
How did the stars sway?